Session 13- Tying (Dying) Up Loose Ends 3am Day 37.
After the ambush in the Golden Grain, the party awakens from their unconsciousness/held condition in a
dirty, crude tunnel system underground. Unknown where they have been moved to, they estimate they
have been out for an hour or two. They grab the barely lit torch and find a second one in the dirt and
clean it off and prepare to use both as a light source. The party, being quite paranoid about their situation,
had each secreted a dagger, save Belgium who had his holy symbol. Armed with dagger and torches, the
party hears banging down one of the tunnels. Investigating, they find two ghouls banging the wall of an
alcove. Belgium was able to turn them and he shooed them away down a northeast passage. Investigating
where the ghouls were banging, Thantas finds a secret door which opens to a small hidden room containing
two empty chests and the hirelings Mondius and Manuel! Rescued again! The men say they were drugged
by drinks served at the Golden Grain Inn. It was likely Snigrot the surly cook. From there they awoke in the
caves in front of the open secret door. They found a suit of chainmail with a leather decorative spider web design
on it, a shield and a sword, but were accosted by 2 ghouls, and their only defense was to hide in the secret room
and barricade the door. After probing deeper in the caves they find an ivory statue of a strange snake creature
with an eerie human-like head. Draden uses his tome and knowledge to identify
the creature as some type of Naga, there are several types. Trying to avoid the ghoul, the party heads northwest
back the way they came, and finds the staff and rope used to tie up Thantas. Mandigor fastens a spear using the
rope and his magic dagger. They then come to a chamber with some debris. Investigating a pile, Mandigor
startles a Mudviper snake, but it is cold and slow and misses. The party decides to leave it alone. Heading the last direction
yet to be explored, the party comes to a heavy wooden door which is firmly set in a frame and likely barred.
Having donned the chain, Mandigor busts down the door, surprising whoever is on the other side. Upon the bum
rush, the party realizes they are in the basement of the Golden Grain, the tunnels being dug into the side of a secret
room next to the kegs. In the room are Derek, the rogue, divvying up the party’s treasure with Whit, Belgium’s
no-longer henchman, and Bertram and Snigrot. Also in the room are three troglodytes who are trying to tie up and
likely eat Gunter, Malden’s dog. The party gets surprise, and Draden’s sleep spell takes out almost everything,
except for a Trog, Which Malden happily dispatches and saves his dog. They do hear two guards outside run away
and begin to call for the Sheriff. Derek, being the only person left after the spell, surrenders after being stabbed in
the chest by Mandigor’s spear. The party begins to quickly grab their stuff, they grab Derek too. They begin to
arm themselves and barricade the basement in a last stand. At that, they hear combat up the stairs, and the cries of
the 2 felling guards. They then are approached by the 2 elves hired by the mayor to investigate. They inform the
party that a large mob is gathering and they would not be able to fight them all off, a last stand would be suicide.
They quickly implore the party to trust them and they all run from the Golden Grain, moments before 2 mobs of
people including the sheriff and the deputies descend on the inn. They flee up the road along the path that leads to
Ramne. They pause, realizing the mob is not chasing them into the woods, they begin to get information from the
elves and interrogate Derek. Derek had pleaded to tell the party of the Master. He says the master is running a
kidnapping ring from the south through Orlane north into the Dim Forest. He seeks reputation or notoriety and
seems to be trying to court or impress someone or something. He also seems to have a truce with whatever is
affecting the people of Orlane. He says three of the Masters people live in Orlane, and traffic people in small
groups at night. The elves share what they know, confirming that people are being charmed away from the
village then return a week or so later clearly altered, angry, groggy, distant. They confer about the Naga statue,
and they say if it was a Spirit Naga it would be able to charm victims, creating a cult of easily controlled followers.
This is a likely possibility, and the most likely ringleader of the plot is the clerics in the Temple of Merrika. After getting
all the information they can from Derek, Mandigor slays him with the magic spear. Realizing that by fully
wielding the dagger reveals all of its powers, he feels a little bit bad about killing the prisoner after he honored his
end of the bargain. The dagger reveals itself to be a Cursed Dagger of Opposite Alignment. The party decides to
visit Ramne, get some information, and lay low for a bit. They head off into the woods towards the hermit camp.
End session 8am Day 37.
Session 14- Respite in the Hermit’s Hollow Day 37 8am
The party agrees to go visit old Ramne and see what information he has about the cult while the elves sneak back to town
and observe how the cult is reacting to the party’s battle in the Golden Grain Inn. On the walk to Ramne’s, Thantas
sixth sense kicks in to a location not far off the path, the party pauses, listens, observes, hears or sees nothing, and
decides to move on and not investigate. They get to Ramne’s without further disturbance, to find the hermit’s
peaceful hidden hollow under the shade of a giant elm tree. He has a humble but comfortable abode, a small hut,
and plenty of firewood and supplies. He also has a little animal friend, a weasel named Whiskers. He tells the party
he’s been watching their dealings in Orlane, as has Whiskers, and he’s pleased that they dealt a harsh blow to the
cult. He tells them he is a former adventurer who used to protect this land with this party, but has become too old
and frail to be a hero any more. He has watched the cult slowly take over the town, and as they got more established,
he was mostly banished from town. When the party tells him about the statue of a Naga that they found in the
basement of the Golden Grain, he tells the party that the naga is likely Expliticus Defilus, an old nemesis of his
party’s that he thought was permanently defeated. Seeing that this is not the case, and that Defilus still lives and is
building a cult, he tells them of her power levels, and her most common tactics. She is likely lairing somewhere
nearby and bringing victims to her to be charmed. They must find her lair and defeat her to break up the curse of
the cult. He gives the party a scroll of Minor Globe of Invulnerability and 2 scrolls of dispel magic, to counter the
creature’s fireball spell and her gaze charm attack. He also tells them that Whiskers will be able to track a scent
back to the Naga’s lair if provided one of the Naga’s trog followers, or any person who has recently been to her
lair. He will allow Whiskers to accompany the party back to town in the hopes the party can use him to locate
Defilus. The party mulls this over and gets fed and well rested. They rest the rest of the day and all night at the
hermit’s abode. The party and Ramne agree that the clerics in the temple are likely the root of the activity, and
discuss ways to get into the temple. They decide to depart in the morning and will finalize their plan then. The
following morning, at the area where Thantas heard something, they go investigate. They find a hidden wooden
shack big enough for 2-3 people hidden in the woods. Its open but a heavy iron lock hangs on the door. It looks
like it could be used as a place to hide kidnapees, and the party finds signs of a struggle on the ground outside the
structure. They also find the same spider web pattern on the inside of the door that was on the suit of chainmail
they found. The symbol is starting to link back to Lareth, The Master. Session ends Day 38 10 am.
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